Guest Blog!!

Our guest blogger today is Kim, Shawn’s sister. She (along with her husband Daryl and sons Gavin and Carson) hosted Keychain, Zen, and Donnie, as well as the whole Keychain family, when the hikers came through the Delaware Water Gap in July! (p.s. if the photos look blurry on your screen, click on them, and you can see them in a little higher resolution!)

Hi everyone! … I'll share with you all that we had a great time when Shawn passed through our area on his journey hiking the Appalachian Trail...he looks great and seems strong and healthy (in body and mind). We met him in the Delaware Water Gap on Thursday around noon...actually spotted him and a bunch of other thru-hikers sitting outside a local bakery...what a reunion! Gavin and Carson had made some poster board signs for him saying 'Welcome Uncle Shawn'...let me just say before going any further, that the anticipation of waiting for Shawn to reach the DWG had been mounting for months, so for Gavin especially he was so excited the whole time Shawn visited...and it took Carson a good couple of hours before he felt confident that the guy with the beard (and body odor) was really his Uncle Shawn...

Anyway, we took him and two other thru-hikers (trail names, Donnie and Zen) back to the house for food and shower and we washed their clothes twice over...sat and had some beers (well some people had beer) and talked and talked about the trail...Shawn and the others shared so much interesting stuff about their experience and on a personal note I'm a little envious...just a little...it was great just to sit and listen...we had an awesome dinner that night, steak, chicken and fish (caught by Daryl) along with salad, pasta salad and fruit and ohhh ice cream and pie and brownies for desert...the hikers did not leave a crumb...like mom said, it was like feeding growing teenage boys...after dinner we went for a quad ride where Daryl hooked up the trailer to the back of the quad and we had five kids and six adults on the back...as you can see from one of the pictures Daryl let Dad drive the first part of the trip, it was a little bumpy going and coming back home was even more bumpy...we came home in the dark...it was awesome to just let go and have a great time with everyone...Daryl and the boys and I camped out that night (all four of us in the tent was a first time experience)...poor Carson didn't make it to the tent before he fell asleep on the dining room floor......

The next morning we all found food and the got ready to go swimming down at the Kittatiny visitors center on the NJ side of the DWG...we packed lunches, took a blow-up tube and had an awesome time...although we did hike from the PA side to the NJ side, therefore we had to cross over the river using the Rt 80 bridge...ummm...a little long, a little scary and it was extremely hot and humid...but it's all part of the trail experience! The river felt so good though....

So, then after sometime, we said good-bye to Shawn, Zen and Donnie...as they left for Sunfish Pond up the NJ side, where they were planning on camping that night...and we hiked back over and went home (they boys fell asleep before my car even left the DWG). It was such a great feeling to be able to host Shawn and his friends and our family...and then to be able to accommodate sleeping arrangements for seven people inside our home was awesome, something Daryl and I had never done before....During that week before Shawn came on Thursday I had prayed...and my prayer was kinda simple just asking God to bless the time that we had with our family and with Shawn (knowing it was going to be short) and to make it something that would leave a great memory for everyone...of course then I prayed for the safety of the hikers and Shawn as I'm still doing today...enjoy the pictures...

Quick update with more to come tomorrow....

Hi all - First… a long overdue update!! I spoke with Shawn both Tuesday night and this afternoon. He has crossed into Massachusetts, and will be in Dalton late Friday or early Saturday. For those keeping track, this puts him about 2 days ahead of his original schedule. I’ll update the whole list when he gets there so everyone is on the same trail-page.

Second, tomorrow’s blog update will feature both a surprise guest blog entry, and photos from our trip to NYC….

Stay tuned!

GOODBYE NY, HELLO NEW ENGLAND

HI all from the very cute and very posh town of Kent, Connecticut. I have only a half hour left of library time and lots to cover, so here goes...

Since I last wrote at Delaware Water Gap, we entered the "deli-to-deli" portion of the hike which was nice in that almost every day there were stops for ice cream or fresh produce or thick sandwiches, but it also meant not bothering to stop in towns - therefore no internet. Strange too, since this is the most urbanized portion of the trail - basically circling the New York City suburbs. New Jersey, as Elizabeth mentioned, was indeed nice. The rocks petered out as we went north to High Point, where the AT takes a right hand turn and follows the NJ/NY boundary. This is a very pretty area of New Jersey, climbing small ridges and passing over many flat marsh areas on boardwalks. Many perceptions of the Garden State were changed. lizabeth's parents also discovered the beauty of the area when they visited me and a hiking buddy named Zen at Vernon, NJ. We had holed up at a motel for a day, watching copious amounts of bad TV (a redundant phrase really) and taking a needed rest from the heat and humidity. The Burlings were nice enough to take us both to dinner and drive us to a supermarket and several other places as I looked for a NJ keychain. No success in that endeavor, but a few days later, another hiker found a frog keychain left behind by some Jersey schoolkids that I have written "NJ" on, so it counts.

Then we hit New York and life changed. The location of the New York portion of the trail is an oddity, in that its far from any traditional definition of "wilderness footpath". When the AT was first conceived, they used older trails already in existance like those in the White Mtns of New Hampshire, or the Long Trail in Vermont. The first section purposely built to be part of this new Appalachian Trail was built in the brand new Bear Mtn State Park, offered up as a location by the New York City Hiking Club in the 1920s. Naturally, the AT organizers at that time were happy to accept that location to get the ball rolling on their dream trail. Thus, New York hosts the oldest (purposely built) section of the AT, and 90 years later this section runs thru suburban NYC. The mountains are mountains in name only really, more like foothills, and we cross endless ridges to reach Bear Mtn, and then "course correct" across more ridges to get to the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Not many impressive views, and lots of interaction with suburbia and NYC residents, which leaves hikers sometimes wondering what exactly we are doing. Furthermore, sometimes it seems the local trail clubs purposely route the trail over punishing rock climbs just to make it tougher. Some of us geography buffs wonder if relocating it further north thru the more impressive Catskills wouldn't be a better choice.

But the AT is what it is, and I follow it faithfully. The weather has been nice with little rain, but the classic mid-Atlantic heat and humidity day after day can wear one down. Everyone was ready for Connecticut and the mental progress into New England it brings. We are now heading almost due north, with only 50 miles of Conn. and 90 miles of Mass. before crossing into the bigger mountains of Vermont. Hopefully as we move, the humidity will drop. After 50ft of climbing, I'm totally soaked, and over the last 3 days a mean hurting rash has developed on my inner thighs from rubbing with my, ahem, bits and pieces.

So, a welcome break here in Kent, the first true town since Del. Water Gap, even if its a bit posh for hikers. (Our fine colonial inn starts at $175 a night...) From here, the AT follows the Hoosatonic River north, which is a welcome flat section after so many ridge climbs.

I should mention that NY wasn't all bad. Bear Mtn. Park is absolutely beautiful, an asset which NYC is very fortunate to have. And there is direct train service from there and a few other places to the City. I took advantage of this to meet Elizabeth for one last rendevous before heading north for the final 2 months. We stayed overnight in Manhattan, and I can't describe the headtrip of moving from the woods to New York. Its almost so completely opposite the trail. No one looked twice at me, and when I mentioned to a few people that I had been hiking for 4 months they never reacted like it was anything odd. Seen it all, I guess. More and more, our interactions with the real world are strange - TV and shopping and cars and the waste and boredom in regular life all seem so unneccessary. A fellow hiker named Burrass once wondered if we're the only sane people out there. More on this later - Kent Library is closing!

New Jersey and Hikers. .. Perfect Together.

A morning update from our intrepid hiker... I find it hard to believe, but today will be their last day in NJ! Apparently NJ has been a big hit with the hiking crowd, especially after the rocks of Pennsylvania. According to Shawn, "PA is the old and busted, and NJ is the new hotness." Of course, as a former Jersey girl, I could have told him that.... His NJ adventures included a send-off from his family at the Delaware Water Gap (photos to come), a call to me from the top of the trail near my favorite camp, Fairview Lake (my LTC folks will appreciate that), and dinner and a grocery store run last night with my parents in Vernon, NJ. Yesterday, during the hottest part of the day, Shawn and Zen sat in an air-conditioned hotel room watching very dated movies, and making a couple calls to me to search IMDB for casting information... Today, he and Zen will hike 10 miles and be in NY, and one state closer to Maine!

DELAWARE WATER GAP, PA

Hi all from PA's last stand. I'm writing from my sister Kim and her husband Daryl's house a few miles from the trail, enjoying the first home cooking I've had in months. Lots of food to fatten up with and a little rest period while another heat wave rolls through - temps are supposed to get into the mid-90s today, with high humidity. Not the best weather for hiking, so Zen and Donny (two fellow thru-ers with me) are saying the word for today is "swimming." As in swimming in the Delaware River. The river flows parallel to the trail through the picturesque Delaware Water Gap National Rec. Area, the last of the Natl Park Service units we will travel thru on our way north. The federal government bought up the lands along the river in the 50s and 60s in anticipation of putting a large dam at the Water Gap, but 30 years of sustained opposition to the project finally caused it to be killed in 1992. As a result, the Delaware remains one of the largest undammed rivers in the US, and it is a pleasure to tube or canoe. Also interesting to know that I could just stay in a tube and eventually float to the riverfront parcel in my Philadelphia neighborhood of Fishtown, where various forces have been trying to put a giant slots casino before encountering similar public opposition. Hopefully it won't take 30 years to kill that bad idea. But I digress. Speaking of pleasures, its nice to have completed PA, one of the longer sections of the trail. I feel like I may have given it a bad rap in my previous post, but 140 miles of rocks can really get your anger up. I can say that the Superfund climb out of Palmerton was really "super-fun," with exposed rock climbs and views all around. Maybe they should allow zinc smelting along other parts of the trail to open it up a bit. So after swimming, we will continue across the river and into New Jersey, hoping to stay near Sunfish Pond tonight. This pond is the southernmost glacial pond on the trail, visibly marking where the trail enters the area once covered by an ice-sheet. From here on out, many ponds and lakes and marshes (and mosquitos) will greet us, and instead of cobbles and loose rock that the freeze-thaw cycle gives PA, sheets of rock to walk on and exposed roots to trip over. But most thru-hikers are looking forward to another milestone New Jersey represents: the deli-to-deli hike that occurs in New Jersey and New York, where lots of delis and other eateries exist near the trail. So, bring on the reubens!

PAMLERTON, PA

Hi to all from Palmerton, PA, mile 1,245, and where the trail crosses the Lehigh River, for those of you Pennsy dwellers. The town is a delight, with lots of cheap restaurants, two grocers, laundromats, etc. And the borough's government is nice enough to let hikers stay and shower for free in the basement of Borough Hall (the former jail). Sitting here in the library right now, housed in a beautiful old bank building. All of the PA towns have been good stops, which is important for morale since the trail here has turned into a nightmare. After Duncannon, the AT climbs up the blue ridge, here called Blue Mountain, and stays on it for the rest of PA. And that's where the trouble starts. One word: rocks. Everyone knew PA would be rocky, but I don't think anyone guessed just how rocky it would be. Most of each day is spent walking, stumbling, hopping, and falling across endless piles of rocks of varying looseness and size. At its worse it's pure bouldering, walking on top rock ledges slanted 45 degrees for a mile or more. At best, the trail follows old forest roads that still have some minimum amount of loose rocks, usually with the pointy end facing up. My boots, new since Duncannon are already beat up. Add in the heat and humidity of July in southeast PA. Sprinkle with thousands and thousands of gypsy moths flitting around in your face. Then subtract the water, since the rocky soil drains so easily and the area is under-supplied by rain this year. Most decent water sources require walking a half-mile steeply down off the ridge, then carrying it all back up. The real high, or low, point will be the climb out of Palmerton - the toughest part of the trail until New Hampshire. It is straight up a rocky ledge, one thousand feet in a half-mile, without any shade. No plants grow there because of heavy-metals contamination by a former zinc smelting operation - its actually an EPA-administered Superfund site. All part of PA's industrial past, which is not a new thing on the trail. Last week, we walked through a ghost mining town, right past a few culm piles and mine entrances seeping out orange acid mine-drainage into the water system. The rocks and envrionmental problems aren't just the only thing intimidating about PA. The southerners amongst us are discovering that brusque curtness that Yankees are known for, and there's more garbage and grafitti along the trail than we've seen elsewhere. And then there's the gunfire - everyone is astounded by the amount we've heard since entering PA. There's been gunshots every day, both day and night, much more than heard in any part of the South. Its especially disconcerting given that the hunting season hasn't started yet. Some of the hikers took a side trip to Cabella's giant flagship store near Hamburg, PA and were amazed at this 250,000 square foot retail "experience", complete with an enormous gun selection and hundreds of stuffed versions of the animals we aren't seeing on the trail. No doubt about it, PA loves guns. Fortunately for the state's reputation, the views over farmland are truly beautiful and PA's town stops have been pleasant and quirky. Allen and Jeff, two friends from high school/college, joined me for 30 miles of hiking. After 14 miles of rocks and heat the first day, we stopped at little Port Clinton and its collection of lawn ornaments. Had the biggest cheesesteak I've ever seen at the Port Clinton Hotel. The next night we climbed and camped at the Pinnacle, which may just be the best viewpoint along the AT in PA. Had great fun watching a small town's fireworks display from 1000 feet above the town. After Jeff and Allen took off, I've been traveling with Zen, The Thinker, and Vashon, thru-ers who have never been thru PA except on foot. We stopped for beers and live music at a restaurant where the trail crosses Rt. 309, and landed here in Palmerton last night for more good food. So, from here its just 37 miles to Delaware Water Gap and the end of PA. I will be visiting with my immediate family there, eagerly anticipating home cooking and a place to rest before pushing on. Like everyone else, I know I'm excited about entering New Jersey. For me it means the start of walking away from home, but I'm looking forward to seeing places I haven't before and getting up into the bigger mountains of New England.

DUNCANNON, PA

Hi again. I've returned to the trail after my few days off in Philadelphia and am enjoying a beer and the free internet access at the Doyle Hotel and Bar in Duncannon, PA. This is a great town for hikers, a real town with laundromat and cheap hotel and a real bar. The Southern towns never had much in the way of bars. The first decent looking bar appeared in Boiling Springs, PA, but it was pretty upscale with lots of brass and country club furnishings - not exactly hiker digs. It was like being in that movie Caddyshack, and I'm Rodney Dangerfield. So, the Doyle is a great find. I took the train from Philly to Harrisburg and cabbed it to Duncannon. I will stay at a campground tonight on the edge of town and hike out tomorrow morning. The weather looks terrible for hiking - hazy hot and humid with plenty of thunderstorms all this week. Hopefully there will at least be a breeze on the ridgetops. Supposedly, the famous (or infamous) rocks of Pennsylvania begin after Duncannon. I've switched to my second pair of shoes and am feeling confident the new shoes will help the dulling pain in my soles that arose last week after my long mileage days. I know it may seem to some readers of this blog that all I'm doing out here is partying, but try and remember that its usually a week or more of solid hiking in between posts and when I get to a computer I tend to write about what I'm doing in town that day, which is often partying. Some folks from work asked me where is the introspection? Where is this alone-in-the-wilderness period? Well, I can honestly say it hasn't been that introspective yet. I'm discovering the Trail has several phases to it. The first part, the race to Damascus for the Trail Days festival was a physical challenge - 500 miles to toughen the body up. The second phase was the 500 miles of Virginia and this part was the mental challenge. Everyone is physically fit for Virginia, but the heat, less-than-spectacular scenery, never-ending forest, and lack of milestones was a trial for the mind to get through. I feel we've entered a third phase since Harpers Ferry, and I've yet to define it. It may be an introspective phase, it may not. Stay tuned. I can say that one challenge for me personally during this phase is visiting home. It was great to see Elizabeth and friends and my house and sweet kitteh Camille, and it was even fun to experience the disorientation of suddenly being in a huge city after being in the woods for so long. (We went out to a crowded restaurant for breakfast and all I could do was stare at all the other people.) And its such a nice feeling being at home and being able to relax and spend time with Elizabeth in a domestic environment - I could easily imagine saying I've had a great experience, hanging up my pack and calling it quits. But I want to finish this trail badly. Psychologically it will get tough. I've been walking towards home until now, but now that changes. I'll have to change my focus - instead of home on the horizon, it will be New England, and eventually Mt. Katahdin itself will rise larger and larger in the mind.

YOU NOW HAVE A FRIEND IN PA

Hello all. I'm sitting in an internet cafe off the trail - waaay off the trail. I'm back in Philadelphia, spending a few days at home. I'd say its rest time, but we're walking around a ton and the distractions of the city are many to someone who has grown used to the quiet of the woods. But it is nice to spend time with Elizabeth at home, as we (well mostly me) eat our way across town today. I left Harpers Ferry fairly quickly - while it certainly is a very beautiful and historic place, it is not a very hiker-friendly town. No groceries, no drug store, no laundromat, no hostel, no central meeting place. The Appalachian Trail Conference has its headquarters there with a small lounge, but most hikers spend a half-day at best in town because there's no place to stay. Pushing on did give me the opportunity to race to Duncannon, PA and take a train from nearby Harrisburg to Philadelphia on July 4th, surprising Elizabeth, who didn't plan on seeing me until the 5th. She was quite surprised when I called her, described how I missed her, said I wished I could be there, then knocked on the door. Despite moving fast, I was able to celebrate a few milestones and traditions. I didn't do the 40-mile 3-state challenge by getting through all of Maryland's 40 miles in one day. But I did do my longest day yet, going 30.8 miles through most of Maryland, making it across the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania, and stopping 8 miles later at 10:30PM. Very exciting that I've hiked back to my home state, very exciting to be out of the South, very exciting to cross roads I know (Route 30, PA Turnpike, etc), and VERY exciting to find decent cheesesteaks and hoagies. The next day was a lighter 15 miles, and I got to spend a few hours relaxing by a pool at Caledonia State Park. Also met a couple of young guys who are skateboarding from Chicago to New York - their link is shredamericafilm.com. The next day we crossed the physical halfway point, at mile 1088.1, which was pretty emotional. Everything is now closer to Katahdin than Springer Mtn, and its a reminder that this adventure will end at some point. Traditionally, hikers celebrate the halfway point by downing a half-gallon of ice cream at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in PA. I doomed my attempt early on when I ate a hot dog right before the ice cream, and also chose Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough as my flavor which is not a smart choice. But I did manage to eat half of it (2 pints worth), followed by a cheeseburger, while watching the others groaning as they finished off the last soupy spoonful. The trail went through Boiling Springs, PA the following day, and I would've hit the internet, but the town has no library that I could tell. It did have a public pool with twisty slides though, which was welcome on a hot day. This was the beginning of the Cumberland Valley, where the trail crosses 14 miles of flat farmland before climbing onto PA's Blue Ridge. The rest of PA will be on this ridge - those of you who travel the PA Turnpike NE Extension (I-476) might know the Blue Ridge as the mountain the highway tunnels under right north of Allentown. I left the trail in the middle of the valley to hitch into Harrisburg, and will begin again there on Monday afternoon, probably arriving in Duncannon on Tuesday. Elizabeth and I drove out to Duncannon where there was a big hiker feed on the 5th, and got to enjoy the atmosphere at the Doyle Hotel and Bar, probably the friendliest hiker bar on the AT. Lots of fellow hikers sped up or slowed down to hit the feed, and its nice to see faces I haven't seen in a while. However, its definitely clear that there are nowhere near the numbers of people on the trail as there were only a month ago. The miles and time are taking their toll. Still, the folks left are strong and I'm with a solid group of swell friends who will be fun to hike with, once I catch back up with them. One other thing for any friends and family who want to do a nifty day hike - I am suggesting meeting up at the Delaware Water Gap and hiking up the NJ side of the gap where there are amazing views from the Kittatiny Ridge. Probably about 7 miles round trip, with a 1200 foot climb, so plan a half day. I will post later about time and date, once its clearer to me....

As of today...

Shawn is in Pennsylvania! I spoke with him around 4, and he said he was about 10 miles from the PA border. That being said, he's running about 5 days ahead of his original planned schedule. Since I'm having a little trouble updating the excel spreadsheet with his dates on it, I'll post the update here for your mail-drop fun ... this is subject to change as he hikes along, but for now, here's the updated schedule from here on out. I don't think he'll be at the top of Katahdin on September 27th, as I know that he will be slowing down as he gets closer to Maine, but this should give you an idea of where he will be for the coming months (Any of the stops with ** have a planned mail drop - addresses are the same as the original list.).

7/5	1,135.3	Duncannon, PA **
7/10	1,205.3	Port Clinton, PA
7/15	1,281.6	Delaware Water Gap, PA **
7/19	1,344.9	Vernon, NJ
7/22	1,390.5	Ft. Montgomery, NY
7/27	1,453.7	Kent, CT
7/29	1,486.4	Salisbury, CT
8/3	1,556.6	Dalton, MA **
8/5	1,579.9	North Adams, MA
8/9	1,638.4	Manchester Center, VT
8/16	1,734.3	Hanover, NH
8/20	1,777.7	Glencliff, NH **
8/23	1,803.5	Franconia Notch / Lincoln, NH
8/30	1,878.3	Gorham, NH **
9/3	1,919.7	Andover, ME
9/10	1,988.4	Stratton, ME
9/13	2,025.0	Caratunk, ME
9/16	2,061.7	Monson, ME **
9/25	2,161.1	Abol Bridge, ME
9/27	2,176.5	Katahdin, Baxter Peak

BIG WRITE UP PART 2 - NORTHERN VIRGINIA

Back for a second post. So, naked hiking day completed, we had a nice stayover in Luray, VA with Elizabeth, Johnny Thunder and his girlfriend Theresa. The next day, I got my Virginia keychain, said goodbye to the ladies at Skyland Lodge. As Johnny and I entered the woods to get back on the trail, we came across Orion, and then the skies opened up. Luckily, Skyland's tap room was not far and we had a place to wait out a huge thunderstorm with marble-sized hail - while enjoying a few beers! By the way, those of you who are sick of Yeungling might find it curious that it's sold all over the South as a premium domestic beer. Finally got back on the trail and ended up stealth camping near a troop of boy scouts at a picnic pavilion. The next few days were more of the same, with easy trails, afternoon storms, and Skyline Drive becoming more and more annoying. Most of the thruhikers by this point were over Shenandoah NP - it is amazingly crowded on weekends, and having Skyline Drive so close to the trail really ruins any attempt at a quiet wilderness experience. In fact, the original creator of the trail severed his relationship with the Appalachian Trail Conference when they agreed in the 1930s to move the trail to make room for Skyline Drive (yes, the AT is older). He felt having a big tourist road right next to the trail would ruin the AT, while the ATC leadership felt it would give more people access to the trail. Both were right. If you are really interested in what happens when roads are brought through are National Parks, I suggest reading Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" which is about his time in Arches NP in Utah in the 60's when a road was brought thru, completely changing how visitors experience the park. Anyway, most of us were glad to be out of the park simply because it means only 40 miles until West Virginia. As a buddy Wavepool says, "she's a moody lady, Virginia, tough to get along with. And despite trying a long term relationship with her, I'm ready for a brief fling with her sister." And what a last 40 miles. Very boring trail, lots of rocks, no views, completely overgrown and seemingly forgotten in parts, no good swimming holes. And to top it off, the "rollercoaster" - a 13 mile section where the trail climbs up and down over 13 viewless and rocky ridges. I had gotten only 10 miles into it and was in a foul mood when I came across Orion, sitting with a big smile on his face and playing his mandolin. "Keychain, so glad to see you - get ready to change your journey." Orion had been to Linden, VA to pick up a mail drop, and there he met a party of guys celebrating a friend's release from jail. A guy named Tom called Orion over, and in short time offered him the use of his canoe to paddle down 15 miles of the Shenandoah River. He just wanted gas money to come pick it up. So Orion went looking for me, and several hitches later, we had beer and a camping spot on the river where Tom would drop the canoe the next morning. True to his word, at 7:30am the next day there was Tom and his canoe, and there we were, "aqua-blazing" past the Roller Coaster, skipping over rapids, getting tan, drinking beers, and enjoying the fun the river provided. And the river kept on providing. Two hours into the journey, we found a dented aluminum canoe, abandoned on a mud island. It floated well, with only a slow leak, and so we commandeered her and gave her the trail name "Proud Mary." We caught up with Tom at the end of the 15 miles, returned him his canoe, and told him we were heading on towards Harpers Ferry in our own. So, Orion and I set off in Proud Mary for another 15 miles, stopping overnight at a hidden riverside camping spot that had a picnic table and clean-running stream for water and cleaning up. The only hitch was that our map showed five "falls" on the river below where we gave Tom his canoe back, and no one we talked to could tell us anything about those falls. So on the second day, we strapped everything tightly to the Proud Mary, and headed into the unknown. Luckily, the "falls" turned out to be minor Class 2 rapids, but they caused excitement and were fun to run. We ened up at Route 9 in West Virginia, unable to get around a power plant dam. One call to Tom, and he came to return us to the trail, taking the Proud Mary as payment. What a guy! What a way to leave Virginia! What an addition to this journey! So Orion and I did end up walking the last 6 miles into Harpers Ferry, West Virginia - our 5th state, our 1,000th mile, our halfway point in time, our near-halfway point in mileage. When we arrived this morning, we promptly got our photos taken at the Appalachian Trail Conference's headquarters for their record books. We are the 460th and 461st thru-hiker to pass through this year, out of an estimated 1,200 that started in Georgia. A proud moment indeed! I plan on staying overnight, but accomodations are tight since the major hiker hotel is closed for renovations. There is talk of doing all of Maryland's 40 miles in one day tomorrow, but I'm not sure I want to push that hard - plus I need to find a town in Maryland that sells keychains. We shall see. However, I can say that the next time I am able to blog, I will be in my homestate of Pennsylvania!